Under Fang Xiaoyue's discipline and care, well, the Taoist temple is not open to the public now. Except for things like cooking that require precision operations, Fang Xiaoyue has left everything else to the transformed yellow-robed strong man.
The remaining land outside the Taoist temple has been converted back into fields, and rice planting can begin when the Jingzhe comes after the New Year.
Every day near the gate of the Taoist temple is the cleaning and sanitation contract area of the two brothers Li Shi, while the rest of the area is cleaned by strong men in yellow robes.
Under Fang Xiaoyue's discipline and care, the two Li brothers became tanned but also became stronger.
A set of Xingyi boxing was performed vigorously and looked a bit arrogant.
At this time, spring is coming, and so is the spring drought.
More than ten counties centered on Donglin County are mainly agricultural. It has not rained for more than ten days in a row. The channels have dried up, the rivers have shrunk, and large tracts of fields have become extremely parched. In some places, large swarms of migratory locusts have appeared.
.
Seeing that this spring drought, which has never happened in a century, is coming.
This makes people in Donglin County and other places worried.
Even elders like Cui Zhixian called local gentry to discuss ways to solve the spring drought.
It has to be urgent.
If spring plowing cannot be carried out, it means that the summer harvest will not be harvested, and the people will have no food to eat and will have to flee the famine.
Three to four million people in more than ten counties have become refugees, which will destabilize the entire society.
When I think about the fact that the Western Expeditionary Army of the Kingdom of God on earth is stepping up its attack, this is simply shaking the local rule of the Qinglong Kingdom!
One bad thing, not to mention those people who fled thousands of miles and exchanged their children for food, even local elders such as Cui County Magistrate and Zhang Zhushu couldn't live without food, and they were inevitable to be dismissed from office.
The most terrible thing is that in this era, agriculture is still dependent on the weather, and there is no water pump for later generations.
And even if Magistrate Cui mobilized all the county's labor force to pump water from the river, there wouldn't be much water left in the river.
Therefore, County Magistrate Cui and other officials together with the gentry invited many monks and Taoists to parade around the streets for several days with the statues of the Dragon King Temple, and held several rain-praying ceremonies!
But these rain-praying rituals were held, not to mention wasting money and wasting people's lives. The most important thing was that they were useless!
The Dharma conference was held, and it was still daytime in the sky, with not a single dark cloud or rain star falling!
This made Cui Zhixian return home and scold the monks and Taoists for their incompetence.
When it comes to praying for rain, Magistrate Cui has nothing to do.
I have thought of every possible way, so I asked the Dragon King to come up with ideas and organize labor to fetch water from the river.
But if you go to the river to fetch water, it will only be enough for everyone to drink. If you want to irrigate the fields, don't expect it.
In the evening, Magistrate Cui put on his casual clothes and went to Manxiang Tower for dinner.
Well, to be precise, it's not a meal, but a gathering with literary friends.
As a county magistrate, you worry about official matters during the day, but can't you have some entertainment time at night?
Compared to those old men who stayed at Cuihua Garden at night, he was pretty good.
When they arrived at Manxiang Tower, Cui Zhixian and his literary friends had a great time drinking and reciting poems. But after a while, Cui Zhixian couldn't help but sigh when he thought about the spring drought.
The reason why these literary friends are willing to curry favor with Magistrate Cui is not because he is a great master.
Upon seeing this, some literary friends asked, wanting to take the opportunity to flatter him.
"Why do you sigh, sir?"
"When I think about the suffering of the common people in Li from the spring drought, my heart feels like a knife."
Of course, Magistrate Cui was just sighing because his official position was not guaranteed, but naturally he could not express these inner thoughts.
As a result, all the literary friends came up with ideas one after another, trying to get a good position in front of Cui Zhixian and show off. What if it works?
I will be happy in the future.
But these literary friends can do some limericks, but when it comes to praying for rain, their method is still to ask the Dragon King. The method is so different that Cui Zhixian feels completely useless.
But at this moment, Li Zaixing, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke timidly: "Master, if you are willing, my brother-in-law is said to have a way to pray for rain. I can go and talk about it."
In fact, just after the spring drought started, Fang Xiaoyue told Li Zaixing that if there was a cultural meeting with Cui Zhixian and the matter of praying for rain came up, he must take over the matter.
When Li Zaixing said this, Cui Zhixian's eyes suddenly lit up: "What Brother Li said is the former Hanlin editor Fang Zhenzhen?"
After Fang Xiaoyue moved away, Magistrate Cui rarely heard from this senior official. When he heard what Li Zaixing said today, he couldn't help but become concerned.
"Exactly..."
Afterwards, Li Zaixing shamelessly boasted to his brother-in-law for a while, making Fang Xiaoyue look like a real flying fairy.
But Cui Zhixian then thought about it, it was now too late, nothing could be done, it would be better to treat a dead horse as a living horse doctor.
So the next morning, County Magistrate Cui took Master Zhang to visit the Three Emperors Temple.
low profile!
Going to meet with the provincial minister Jieyuan, the palace tester Hua, and the former Hanlin editor, Cui Zhixian really didn't have the confidence to show off his guard of honor.
If you really want to put on a guard of honor, other people's guards of honor are much bigger than mine.
I am just a judge myself.
At the beginning of their meeting, Fang Xiaoyue used the skill of summoning rain.
After a talisman depicting mysterious runes was lit, a drizzling drizzle began to fall around the Taoist temple, leaving Magistrate Cui dumbfounded. Even Master Zhang whispered, "Zhen Xian!"
As a result, the two parties met in a harmonious atmosphere.
Cui Zhixian expressed his concern for his predecessors, and Fang Xiaoyue expressed his concern for the spring drought.
In the end, both parties reached an agreement on praying for rain.
Cui County Magistrate came forward and called on more than ten nearby county officials, gentry and people to pile up loess on the outskirts of Donglin County as a platform for praying for rain.
Fang Xiaoyue is personally responsible for the next part.
As for the effectiveness of praying for rain, Fang Xiaoyue gave Cui Zhixian a 90% guarantee using her reputation as a flower hunter!
As a result, County Magistrate Cui could only bite the bullet and go to various counties to lobby.
But compared to Magistrate Cui, magistrates from more than ten surrounding counties were not so easy to convince.
However, due to the pressure brought by the spring drought, except for a few particularly stubborn magistrates, the rest of the magistrates finally nodded and agreed to the matter because of Fang Xiaoyue's status.
Soon, an earth platform about five or six meters high was built on the outskirts of Donglin County.
Tens of thousands of people heard that Wenquxing in this county was going to open a altar to pray for rain in Tanhualangfang Town, and they immediately came from all over the country. In order to get a close glimpse of Wenquxing's literary spirit, some people even came as early as the night before
So he took his children and set up camp next to the platform, and surrounded the platform with water.
Early the next morning, when many officials and gentry led by the county magistrates came to the platform, they found that there was no place to watch the ceremony.